Monique Hepburn, News Editor
Left: Gregory Grant. Right: Jasmine Tharkurdeen (seated), grandmother of Gregory Grant, 18-year-old student of Copperwood, Bickersteth, St. James, is comforted by church sister Eunice Ramsay, while Trudy Ramsay looks on. Grant was shot and killed by gunmen in the community on Saturday along with Edward Cunningham, 19, also of a Copperwood address. - Photo by Monique Hepburn
WESTERN BUREAU:
Two teenagers were shot and killed in Bicker-steth, St. James, on Saturday night. They have been identified as Gregory Grant, 18-year-old student of Kenilworth Academy in Hanover; and Edward Cunningham, 19-year-old labourer, both from Copper-wood district.
Reports are that about 8:30 p.m., residents alerted the police after hearing several explosions and when the lawmen arrived, they found the bodies with gunshot wounds.
When The Gleaner visited the community, Jasmine Tharkurdeen, Grant's grandmother, said she was always wary of him leaving the house at night. In their last conversation, minutes before he went out to talk with friends on the roadside, she warned him not to go.
Barely able to speak, Ms. Tharkurdeen recounted her final warning.
"I was telling him not to go on the road at nights because I heard about a shooting the night before," she said.
"He was coming back, but he did not reach home. It is not fair. I can't explain how I feel. He is my grandson. I raised him since he was four years old. He is like a son to me," Mrs. Tharkurdeen added.
Dreams dashed
She said her grandson was studying to be a computer technician and had two days of exams left.
"I am putting my trust in Jehovah because I know that he is my refuge and my strength," she added.
Police sources say the other victim, Cunningham, was on bail on gun-related charges which had arisen from an incident in which he allegedly gun-butted a man in the Cambridge area. It is theorised that Grant was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time.
